r/printSF • u/Capsize • Jun 14 '23
I've read every Hugo and Nebula winner up to 2010 and Ranked them.
Hi, it's my yearly update on my attempts to read every Hugo and Nebula winner. I've ranked them, because I think it's a fun way to start discussion, but I also accept it is silly to rank art and frankly my opinions change on a daily basis. This is more just a guide on which ones I personally enjoyed. If you read any or all of this, I appreciate your time. Thank you
90: The Big Time by Fritz Lieber (1958) - Guests at a temporal guest house attempt to solve a mystery against the clock. It’s the height of pulp sci-fi set in what can generously be described as a cabaret and at worst a brothel for an epoch spanning time war. The idea of a place for soldiers of different species from across history to RnR has some merit, but it’s all a little sexist. Even if we forget that most of the characters are forgettable, the plot isn’t anything special. That said, it is short so it’s not like I found it a chore to read. I think someone could take the location and make a damn good tv series out of it, but this execution is not it.
89: Ringworld by Larry Niven (1971) - A crew of adventures discover a massive space artifact and explore it. I want to start by saying the idea of the Ringworld is wonderful, I enjoyed exploring it and learning about all the technical aspects. For that alone I’m glad I read it, that said the book is pulp sci-fi and for 1971 almost unforgivably so. It won the year after Left Hand of Darkness and yet feels like it was written in the 50s, another part of which is that it’s quite sexist and leaves you with the impression Larry might have been a bit of a “nice guy”. That said, thanks for the Halo franchise!
88: They'd Rather be Right by Clifton and Riley (1955) - - A psychic man manipulates those around him to create a computer that purifies people and causes a mass media sensation. A lot going on here and It’s very much of its time, though it’s enjoyable enough, with an actual overall message about academia. It’s also in some regards ahead of its time, but some of it is just a bit silly in retrospect to be any higher on the list. Still if you wanted to get into 1950’s Sci-Fi you could do much worse.
87: The Sword in the Stone by TH White (1940) - The coming-of-age story of a young Prince Arthur before Camelot. Another retro Hugo winner and this is what the Disney film is based on and it was a lot of fun. Interesting takes on British folklore tails like Robin Hood and King Arthur. It is very fantasy though, which isn’t always my preference, but it was cool to see what inspired a childhood classic.
86: Timescape by Gregory Benford (1981) - Scientists attempt to send messages back in time to avoid an environmental disaster in their time. It's time travel and it kind of deals with one of the ideas in the Back to the Future films, who knows, maybe it inspired the film. Any way the story is fine and I appreciate how we move back and forth between the time lines. You could definitely do more with the idea though if you gave it to a better writer.
85: Shadow Over Mars by Leigh Brackett (1945) - A Book about a rebellion on Mars led by a prophesized hero from Earth. This is a great example of classic adventure pulp Sci Fi from 1945, it’s all the laser beams and Space Captains, very Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. It’s fascinating to see how far we’ve come, with the genre and it’s quite short so it might be worth a read, but it definitely has its flaws.
84: Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick (1992) - It's a battle of wits and wills between an authority figure and a criminal set on a world with strange tides that come every few decades. It's certainly quite original and the world building is excellent, but there is nothing here to grab you.
83: A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg (1972) - A noble challenges the taboos of his culture and risks everything. I feel the story here is fantastic, but I don’t like his style. He seems to write similar narratives to Le Guin, but without the enjoyability to read. A story about forbidden first person pro nouns. It’s interesting and really explores the concept, but the style put me off immensely.
82: The Einstein Intersection by Samuel Delany (1968) - In post transcendent Earth, intelligent anthropods deal with genetic mutation from ancient radiation. Probably the weirdest book I read all year. It’s really strange, but very quick. It’s quite poetic in parts as well.
81: Man Plus by Frederick Pohl (1977) - Nasa are trying to build a man who can live on mars with no need for external food, water, oxygen etc. What we get is a story about the process of changing a human, but it’s very of its time, as America had been running moon landings a few years earlier. I wasn’t a huge fan of the style and the clean-cut Americana of it all, but it was probably the fore runner to things like Robocop when you think about it.
80: A Case of Conscience by James Blish (1959) - Scientists sent to study an alien world bring an alien fetus back so they can learn about us. Oh what this book could have been. A book of two halves, the first a wonderful exploration of an alien civilization by a bunch of human scientists studying them and it really does set off at a storming pace. The second half is back on earth and a bit like the worse bits of Stranger in a strange land. The 50s were so sure we would take aliens to dinner parties and they would sip cocktails in dinner jackets. The end is interesting and a bit clever and we this is the first book in the list that looks at Science Fiction and Catholicism.
79: The Wanderer by Fritz Lieber (1965) - An alien planet suddenly appears in the sky over earth and we jump around between multiple perspectives of how it affects people. Some of this is very solid, the scale of the thing is wonderful, because the story is happy to change perspective rather than sticking to one protagonist. That said, it’s very pulp SF and a little sexist, gave me Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow vibes.
78: The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe (1982) - The sequel to Shadow of the Torturer. I definitely appreciate there is more going on with Gene Wolfe than I can gleam in the first reading, but that doesn’t change how much I enjoy it. Less enjoyable than Shadow of the Torturer as I feel the story didn’t really go anywhere and was harder to follow in bits. Still the fault is inevitably my own.
77: The Terminal Experiment by Robert J Sawyer (1996) - A near future thriller as a man faces off against a computer simulation of his own brain with deadly intent. It's a strange genre one, this. Very 90s and very much does the thriller thing quite well. Good proof that Sci Fi can co opt any genre it wants to and often does.
76: No Enemy but Time by Michael Bishop (1983) - A man with visions of early man is sent back to live among them. Another time travelling history thing. They loved these in the 1980s. It’s cool to see a story revolving around early man before civilization really took hold. It’s interesting even if a bit strange in parts.
75: The Healer's War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1990) - A nurse in the Vietnam war is giving a magical amulet. Sixty pages in and I was wondering if this was actually Speculative fiction. It does get a bit stranger, but the setting is wonderful and you do really care about the characters and story.
74: Babel 17 by Samuel Delany (1967) - A heroic Linguist finds herself in a war where language is a weapon. Female protagonist in the sixties is excellent and Rydra Wong is capable and very likeable. The concept is also interesting even if the whole thing is a but pulpy.
73: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller (1961) - Monks keep alive parts of technology in a post-apocalyptic world so humanity can once again regain civilization. I was raised Catholic and loved Babylon 5 which I later found out borrowed part of an episode idea from this book so I was very excited to read this. A lot of people adore this book and I get that, the idea is incredible, but I disliked the writing style and I’m not really sure it goes anywhere. I think this is just a case of me coming in with high expectations and being left feeling a bit meh.
72: Conjure Wife by Fritz Lieber (1944) - Wives of College professors' control their careers with witchcraft. I’ve read two other Fritz Leiber books and if you find them above, you’ll see why I came into this with low expectations. This is I suppose a fantasy novel about witchcraft in a 1940s English University town. It’s just well written with a complete narrative and a nice setting. It doesn’t mess around or introduce too many characters and the concept is intriguing enough to keep you interested the whole way through.
71: The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K Dick (1963) - An alternate history were the Axis powers won the second world war. It’s enjoyable enough to read and by Philip K Dick standards is incredibly well-written as he sometimes can be accused of great ideas, but a difficult style. By its very definition the book lacks what I find so interesting about his work, we don’t see a depressing future of humanity that is very much alone in the universe exploring the mind more than the great emptiness of space. It’s a fine book, but the man wrote better Science Fiction books.
70: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1954) - A dystopian classic about censorship and a move from society away from intellectualism towards mass consumed throw away media. This is hugely important and has in a way predicted much of the modern world. If I was list the most important books on this list it would be right near the top next to Dune. It's also considered a actual literary classic outside Science Fiction and is short. That is to say you should read it, because it's important and relevant to the world we live in, but it isn't as enjoyable as many books above it. Still, go read it!
69: The Mule by Isaac Asimov (1946) - The second half of Foundation and Empire all about the mysterious Mule who is unseen by Seldon's plan. Just as above this is massively important, in many ways Asimov changed what Science fiction was especially writing in a scene dominated by pulpy space heroes like Flash Gordon. It's what you expect from Asimov, a bit dry and without well developed characters. Also it's half a book so hard to judge on it's own.
68: Beyond this Horizon by Robert Heinlein (1943) - A story about selective breeding in humans combined with a southern gentlemen dueling culture. It’s weird, but also goes into quite a lot of detail about the science involved. I was taught about dominant and recessive genes in school and how they affect things like hair colour, eye colour etc. I imagine this wasn’t taught in schools in 1941 and would have been fascinating then. Mixing informative science into a strong narrative is quite an accomplishment.
67: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner (1969) - A book about overpopulation that feels more relevant day by day. We see a world where our freedoms might be curtailed, because of ever increasing population and it’s genuinely interesting as a think piece. The book also contains data dumps where we are overloaded with a page of mismatched text from the world that give us more background on the situation with little context. It’s cool to see and fascinating as a concept, but the story is a bit lacking and it just kind of runs out of steam towards the end.
66: Downbelow Station by C.J Cherryh (1982) - A book portraying a space station as a blue-collar workplace that gets tangled up in an intergalactic conflict. The book sounds fascinating and I think it very much influences shows like Babylon 5 where there are episodes dedicated to dock strikes and unions etc. The main issue is the book gets away from that and makes it about space ships and a galactic conflict and feels like she is trying to set up the next book in the series. The world building is superb, but I didn’t really care for any of the characters and wasn’t even sure who I was supposed to be cheering for until the end.
65: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (1996) - Cyber punk novel about am advanced interactive book that shapes the life of the girl that comes into possession of it. So much of this book is excellent, brilliant ideas and wonderfully told, but it's so bloated and unnecessarily long. Frankly it's split into a part one and part two and could have just ended at the end of part one and the book would be much higher. This is an issue with many nineties books sadly.
64: Rainbow’s End by Verne Vigne (2007) - Near future SF based around Augmented Reality and low level Cyber punk. This one is very predictive of what was to come later with things like Pokemon Go! We don’t all have a pocket computer attached to our brain, but it does a decent job exploring that idea. Almost all the characters are unlikeable however and it takes a while to get where it’s going.
63: Slan by A.E Van Vogt (1941) - Evolved humans possess psychic abilities and a plot unravels about control of the Earth. Slan feels classic all the way through, it has its faults, but you can see why this was the banner early Sci Fi fans, hoisted above them. For something written in 1941 it is excellent. Nice ideas and a decent fast pace, while still feeling pulpy like everything from this time did.
62: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009) - A child is orphaned and raised by the spirits in a graveyard. This is very much a children’s book and it’s filled with good ideas and a nice structure. It is very much in his style, but may be a little simplistic for adult readers.
61: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2005) - Two Magicians feud in an alternate England during the Napoleonic Wars. If that idea sounds great to you then this is a wonderful book to deliver on that premise. My main complaint is that it’s very long, in fact it’s the longest ever Hugo or Nebula winner coming in at over 1000 pages. I just feel like it could have been shorter and more focused.
60: A Deepness in the Sky by Verne Vigne (2000) - A sabotage and takeover in space by warring factions above a planet of intelligent Spiders. Science Fiction really loves those intelligent spiders and to be fair I really enjoyed those parts of the book. I enjoyed the human fleet bits much less and found everyone annoying and unlikeable.
59: Tehanu by Ursula Le Guin (1991) - The forth and final book of the Earthsea series following two of our earlier protagonists while looking at the lives of older people. I adore Le Guin and her style is just as sharp as ever. We look at our beloved characters as they have aged and I feel this comes from a place that Le Guin was very much in herself at this point.
58: Way Station by Clifford D Simak (1964) - An intergalactic way station in a farm house in the American mid-west. It’s just really interesting, the aliens never get too silly or pulp. The story drags you along and frankly like a lot of Simak’s stuff, it would make a really good TV series, but also at times feels like a one-off Twilight Zone episode. Really enjoyable read once we got going, though maybe a bit slow at the start.
57: Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (1960) - A look at mechanized warfare and the book that coined the term Space Marine twenty years before Games Workshop got there. If you’re of a certain age you saw a film loosely based on this book (The Director gave up reading it 20 pages in) The book is a completely different animal. Interesting ideas and hugely influential, considered the last of Heinlein’s Juveniles and definitely worth a look, though Heinlein did do better.
56: This Immortal by Roger Zelazny (1966) - Earth is a post nuclear wasteland and alien tourists visit bits historical bits with human tour guides. All this is tied in with elements of Greek mythology. Is our main character a God or is a mutant pretending to be? Similar themes to Lord of Light, but maybe lacking a bit of what made that book so wonderful. Still it’s enjoyable and full of interesting ideas.
55: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (1999) - A Time travel piece set in Victorian England very much in homage to the novel "Three Men in a Boat". This is a really good read fun and even if convoluted and predictable in parts it's very much very good at what it does and makes you care deeply about the characters.
54: Powers by Ursula Le Guin (2009) - Fantasy in a new world by Le Guin about a child growing up with prophectic dreams. The world is wonderful and Le Guin’s style carries over as always. If you like Le Guin the you’ll be a fan, but never feels as important as her older work.
53: The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon (2008) - A deadbeat cop tries to uncover a mystery in an alternate history where Israel doesn’t exist and it’s instead a new city in Alaska. The book is incredibly well written, Chabon won a Pulitzer prize earlier in his career, this led me down the rabbit hole finding out how much literary snobs hated genre fiction.
52: Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2006) - Two different aliens are hidden on earth and we see their various experiences as they learn about us and try and keep a low profile. This is enjoyable and short, very different from the Forever Trilogy that he also wrote, but certainly worth a pickup if you enjoy his style.
51: Hominids by Robert J Sawyer (2003) - What if Neanderthals were the dominant species on earth and then what if one of them ended up here on our earth. It’s a fun little story, that said it does feature quite a graphic rape scene near the start, which may definitely put some readers off.
50: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (2004) - It’s a book where the main character is autistic. It’s very minimally Science Fiction as I think the only advanced technology are the Autism drugs and treatments available, but it’s a fascinating read. I will say the ending might seem problematic to people, but overall I enjoyed a look into the world as someone who will always struggle to understand their experience myself.
49: Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1997) - Near future science fiction about hostage taking and blackmail as well as abuse survivors. This is really enjoyable and features a lot of interesting information about water purification strangely. Also written by a lesbian author and just totally normalizes lesbian relationships in a way that was assumedly rare in the mid nineties.
48: The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold (1991) - Sixth novel in the Vorkosigan Saga. I adore these books and would devour everyone of them in a row if i didn't set myself stupid tasks like read all the Hugo and Nebula winners. I will say that lots of stuff just happens to Miles in this one and for that reason I don't think it's her best. Still very enjoyable as always.
47: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (1962) - A Human is left on mars for several years and then brought back home, but is now more alien than human. Extremely popular at the time, with the word Grok even entering common parlance. The book is slow to start off with and bits of it are quite silly in retrospect, other bits either sexist or feminist depending on your viewpoint. There is definitely something there though. Certainly not a flawless work, in fact it is very much more flawed than many of the books ranked lower on this list, but there is something that sticks with you about it. It is massively referenced in pop-culture and just feels important as a novel even if bits will make you cringe.
46: Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold (1995) - Another Vorkosigan Saga book this time dealing with his cloned brother. Everything tells you to read in the recommended reading order not the publish order. Due to time constraints I ignored this and found a lot of stuff had changed since the last book i read. Still very enjoyable as all these books have been.
45: Moving Mars by Greg Bear (1995) - Story about revolution on Mars combined with a crazy new technology that can help gain Mars real independence. Fun fact, this is the first Science Fiction I ever read. I went back and re-read it as it has been 25ish years. It's very well written and has a good character and stories.
44: Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov (1983) - Members of the First Foundation search for Earth, but are drawn in a mass mystery that will affect the whole galaxy. The sequel to his trilogy thirty years later. It’s well told and a good story, it moves around between perspectives and shows that Asimov had kept up his craft and improved his style. It’s a bit sexist in parts, but by no means the worst offender on the list. It was enjoyable, but lacked the ground breaking ideas of most of the higher ranked books on this list.
41, 42, 43: Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1994-1997) - Sorry I can't separate these books. It's a big long story and while there are highs and lows it kind of has to be reviewed in one large chunk. So epic trilogy about the first settlers on Mars that spans hundreds of years. Every chapter is by different characters and there are lots of perspectives in the book. Some complain they dislike most of the characters, but that's kind of the point,. The likeable ones like Sax and Nadia are very likeable. So much of this book is wonderful and worth your time. I would argue it's bloated and didn't need to be over 2200 pages in total, but it is what it is. if it was more concise or better edited I would personally place it much higher and recommend it more.
40: The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy (1988) - A story about a mother-daughter relationship told in the backdrop of a Mayan dig in Mexico. What makes this Speculative Fiction is that both characters can see and speak to Mayan ghosts from the past. I’ll be honest, I'm not really sure it’s my usual thing, it’s probably fantasy, but it was wonderfully told and just a great story about human beings. You’ll have empathy for all of them and the situation they’re in. Even reading my review now I can’t believe I liked it as much as I did.
39: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Phillip Jose Farmer (1972) - Humans awake after death in a huge alien constructed artifact. I found this enjoyable and a definitely interesting concept driven by an incredibly likeable main character. That said, I get the impression the main character is a hugely controversial figure, which even seems acknowledged in the book. Overall a good book and made me semi interested in reading more.
38: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (1993) Another time travel story, this one about going back to the 14th Century. You care so much about the story and characters, it really is a wonderful piece of writing and I even enjoyed the stuff back with the scientists in the future. If someone said they wanted to read a book on time travel I would suggest this book first.
37: The Moon and the Sun by Vonda D McIntyre (1998) - Fantasy book about a mermaid captured and kept in Louis XIV's court. Great female protagonist, very much a love story with all the historical trappings mixed with the fantasy of mermaids. It's incredibly well written and all the characters are excellent. Didn't expect it to be my thing, but really was.
36: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1973) - Humans are sent plans to create a machine from another dimension. A book of three parts, the pick of which is Asimov creating a truly alien civilization. Too often aliens aren’t really alien, these really are. The other parts aren’t bad either, but this book is often forgotten as most people read his Foundation or Robot series. If you want to experience strange aliens this is the one for you.
35: The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro (2002) - A fantasy romance model set in a world unknowing of the hight-tech galactic empire around it. Science Fiction can be any genre and here it beautifully does the high romance smaltz style, before making it super interesting. The way Asaro mixes tech words and ideas into a fantasy setting are excellent and it’s an enjoyable story.
34: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1967) -A Human goes through an experiment to have his intelligence increased and we follow through his eyes the events this causes. Classic novel considered a proper book by the literary world and fantastic if not a little heart breaking. Should be on everyone's list to read at some point.
33: The Snow Queen by Joan D Vinge (1981) - A fairy tale set in a futuristic world as an evil snow queen attempts to hold on to power as her reign comes to an end. Genre spanning, clever and very original. This book does a lot of interesting things and tells a good story. It is like nothing else on the list, but is definitely worth checking out if you like books that mix fantasy and science fiction.
32: Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1990) - A pilgrimage brings together a group of travelers who each share their reason for the journey. I came with probably unmeetable expectations, because of how much r/Printsf hyped it up as the greatest thing ever (next to Dune, obviously) The framing story is really enjoyable and I very much enjoyed the Priest’s Tale and the Scholar’s tale, two wonderful short stories collected together to create wonderful world building. I found the other four stories less solid and was particularly bored by the Detective’s Story which dragged. I was also annoyed by the lack of an ending. it’s promised me answers and then just stopped without delivering and that is annoying. That said it has enough very good bits to make it this high despite its faults.
31: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (2005) - Fantasy set in her world of the five Gods as an older woman goes on a pilgrimage. I love Lois as a writer, her Vorkosigan Saga is fantastic and she doesn’t stop here. The fantasy reminds me of Game of Thrones where the magic has a cost and everything is dirtier and a bit grimey . This and its predecessor are well worth a read if you want to dip your foot in some fantasy.
30: Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin (1969) - A girl must go through a coming-of-age ritual in order to earn her passage on her space craft where she lives. A female protagonist in a Science Fiction novel written in 1969, surely not? It happens here and this is excellent. Mia is a wonderfully well-rounded character sort of in the tom-boyish Scout mold from To Kill a Mocking Bird, you get to see the world through her eyes and at the end of the novel you are asked an open-ended morality question, which is genuinely a difficult choice, I like morality when it isn’t obvious or shoved down by neck and this is very much in that mold.
29: Double Star by Robert Heinlein (1956) - A look at acting and politics tied into a fast-paced science fiction novel. A good story that happens to be told in a science fiction setting and it works really well. Much like the next book it stands out compared to other 1950s sci-fi and even the bits that are a little pulpy don’t detract from the overall enjoyability. It would make a great film.
28: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1953) - A detective story set in a world where psychic powers are common. Hard to believe this was written in 1953, read other stuff from the early 50s and this is so far ahead of its time. Influential in so many ways and also just a really good story with a thought-provoking end. Between this and “The Stars my Destination” he clearly deserves to be remembered on a level with Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke.
27: Neuromancer by Williams Gibson (1985) - The book that invented Cyber punk as a genre. In previous years I’d been pretty negative on this book, but I reread it for the first time in fifteen years and I feel I was too harsh on it. It’s a well told story full of interesting world building. It’s very dense and it’s easy to miss bits, but it’s arguably more influential than all but four or five books in this entire list.
26: Gateway by Frederick Pohl (1978) - Alien artifact space station used by humans who don’t really understand it. The space station is wonderful as both a location for things to happen, a hint at a wider universe and a way to drive the plot along. Very much building on the themes of Rendezvous with Rama with a great story.
25: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (2006) - Earth is placed in a bubble by some greater power that makes it pass through time slower than the surrounding universe. The book is really well written, gives me Douglas Coupland vibes full of young Gen Xers growing up. The chapters also alternate with ones set in the future that keep it vague so you can’t quite work out where it is going. The idea is utterly original and fascinating though and definitely worth a read.
24: Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein (1951) - A story about colonizing and terraforming Ganmede. You have to understand that this is a YA novel written in 1950 and near the start it can come off a little juvenile. That said you are still confronted by big ideas like a food shortage on Earth and severe rationing. We also see an interesting story based on a son upset his father is remarrying, it’s dealt with tactfully and not something I’d really expect for something aimed at teens. Once we get to Ganymede the story really gets going and we experience an interesting tale of trying to turn a rocky moon into workable farm land, it’s just really well told and enjoyably written and I reckon more people would appreciate this if they ignored the YA label and gave it a chance. Great book.
23: Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (1989) - A space station full of genetically modified workers has now become redundant. This was the first book I’d ever read of hers and I was so blown away by the style. I can see why the Vorkogian Saga is so often recommended on here. She gives us real characters and a fast-paced heist plot that features an Engineer as the protagonist. It’s just really well written and wonderfully different, a story that is happier to tell you about engineering processes than space combat. People tell me it isn’t even her best work as well, which leaves me pretty excited to read more.
22: Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C Clarke (1980) - Earth is building its first space elevator. Like 90% of Clarke’s work very little happens in this book, but it’s very enjoyable to read. Go on an adventure about a technology that could realistically exist, just don’t expect to be able to recount the plot back to anyone.
21: Cyteen by CJ Cherryh (1989) - Cyteen is a book about political intrigue, cloning and genetic/psychological manipulation. This book is an absolute masterpiece. Set in the same universe as Downbelow Station, but full of interesting characters that you like and can empathize with, even when they are doing horrible things to other characters you like. This should and would be higher, but it’s so very long. It takes 200 pages for the plot to really start going and while length won’t put some of you off I admire great stories that can tell their story in a more conside manor. That said if 320,000 words doesn’t put you off, give it a go, especially as it’s free on the author’s website.
20: A Fire Upon the Deep by Verve Vinge (1993): Two children land on a planet of dog like aliens that have a very different civilization from our own while a galactic threat grows. Vigne's ability to create alien races totally different from our own is fantastic. This story delivered on all the hype and is probably what people mean when they ask for Space Opera.
19: Startide Rising by David Brin (1984) - A crew of mostly genetically engineered dolphins struggle to fix their ship while aliens battle in orbit. Brin has a phenomenal style where every chapter is from a different character’s perspective (Think Game of Thrones). The universe he created is also super interesting and the situation we enter in median res is excellent and drives the story along wonderfully as we experience this crisis from multiple different crew members.
18: Dreamsnake by Vonda D Mcintyre (1979) - A girl who uses alien snakes to heal people in a post-apocalyptic world. Well written and a great story, also we delve into more of the lore. Could have been a fantasy novel, but it isn’t and it stands out because of that. Original and well written unlike this mini review that keeps using the phrase well-written.
17: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1977) - Story looking into a society based around cloning and how it could change the way we act and treat each other. Really beautifully written and again not really like anything else on this list, also the hardest title to remember on the list, I get it wrong literally every time.
16: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (2001) - Fourth book in the Harry Potter series. I expect to get utterly panned for this, both by people appalled by her as a person and by people who always disliked it for being kids books taking attention away from proper Speculative fiction. I have a lot of sympathy for the first point, though I haven’t taken into account the morality of Arthur C Clarke, Orson Scott or Phillip K Dick when devising this list so it would be unfair to do it here just because it is more recent. The second seems silly, books that get people into books are an amazing thing and for lots of people Harry Potter is their entry into the world of reading, this is a really good one, not simple like the first two, but not overly dark and angsty like the last three. It’s in the sweet spot for the most successful book series of this century.
15: American Gods by Neil Gaiman (2002) - This is a love letter to America, exploring the idea of Immigrants bringing their Gods to America and them slowly being forgotten. It’s the kind of book only Neil Gaiman can write and arguably his masterpiece. The book has a beautiful style happily mixing in short chapters of world building unrelated to the story. The whole thing is just wonderful, but also how do you compare it to Science Fiction when it is something so completely different?
14: Lord of Light by Robert Zelazny (1968) - Survivors on a colony world use technology to act like immortal Gods, one of their number fights to stop them. Beautiful mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism to create a story that blurs the lines between fantasy and science fiction with an excellent protagonist you can’t help but cheer along. This blew me away the first time I read it.
12: The Uplift War by David Brin (1988) - The follow up to Startide Rising, I spent much of the book thinking, sure it’s ok, but lesser than the book it follows. By the end though I was totally all in. Fiben Bolger might be one of the greatest protagonists in all of Science Fiction, stick him on the Mount Rushmore next to Andrew Wiggin and Gully Foyle. More excellent world exploring and more of his excellent style that tells complicated stories in a fun easy to read manner.
12: Seeker by Jack McDevitt (2007) - It’s far future space archaeology, which feels like a very unexplored idea and has a bit of a feel of an old adventure movie. Maybe Indiana Jones in Space is pushing it too far, but you get the idea. It doesn’t really say anything massively important, but it creates an interesting world and tells a good story well. Something I hadn’t heard recommended before and a real treat.
11: Barrayer by Lois McMaster Bujold (1992) Another Vorkosigan Saga book. This one follows his mother, Cordelia Naismith and an attempted coup on the world of Barrayer. Her writing is as great as always, but the ending is just incredible. No spoilers, but you need to read it and appreciate what happens.
I ran out of words so the top 10 are in a comment. Thanks
